I'll teach sharpening.

jackknife said:
Okay, I've seen enough of these posts where some guy want to learn sharpening and its over complicated, or they just have never had someone sit down with them for as many hours as it takes. Too many fathers, uncles, older brothers, and grandfathers have not done their job.

I'm willing to teach all I know about sharpening a knife free hand with just a pocket stone. I'll sit down one on one for as many hours as it takes to teach you how to get a very sharp knife very easy and very quick. I'm in Georgetown Texas, but I travel to Mission Viejo California a couple times a year by car, and pass through west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and Southern California on the 5 from San Diego to Mission Viejo.

Or we can get some people here to form a symposium on sharpening and I'll give sharpening lessons right there. I'm not getting any younger, and maybe this is a way I can give something back to this forum and the people in it. Or anyone in the greater Austin Texas area with the ability to make a detailed video, I'll do it.

Knife sharpening should not be over complicated. People have been doing it since biblical times with bronze blades to nowadays. Roman legionaries to King Richards Crusaders to WW2 commando's. And they all used a hand held stone. I'm willing to teach anyone wanting to learn.
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Do you still teach people?
 
Hello. I'm 60 years old and have had carried knives since I was maybe 8/9? First knife was for Cub Scouts. I sure wanted and treasured that knife. Always wanted to have a knife since.
Over the years, I've had many knives and have some now I've been able to acquire because I've advanced in my career to afford spending the extra money. I say "God has blessed me with more money than brains". Although, I work 40hrs a week. 8hrs a day.
I do not claim any sharpening expertise, especially considering many here with much knowledge, experience, and skills.
I've pretty much always been able to put an acceptable "sharp" edge on a knife. Always have "free hand" sharpened. I've tried many stones/abrasives and different techniques.
Since I've been able to obtain knives, I've tried to focus on handling/using them, as well as increase skill in sharpening/honing. Most recently I've watched many YouTube vids by straight razor shavers. Very, very interesting stuff.
Anyway, I think someone commented earlier something like 'remove metal from both sides until it meets'. Lol, I believe that's the answer, but how the metal is removed is important for what I would call "sharp".
I don't know if I could really help anyone, but I'd be happy to discuss, explain, show what I do.
My interest is pretty much solitary. I have one old friend local that shares an interest.
I frequent Bladeforums to learn and share with other enthusiasts.
Best regards and God bless.
 
Ben Dover said:
Unfortunately, even a master instructor cannot teach the one most important thing necessary to good sharpening. Patience.

Even with an Edge-Pro or Wicked Edge, it takes a bit of time and patience to get an excellent, refined edge. If I could be satisfied with a so-called "utility" edge, I'd just buy a Work Sharp and be done with it. But I have come to love a near perfect edge. And that requires patience.
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Patience can be learned - it's called discipline.
 
Wowbagger said:
I've offered to teach people I've worked with, even those who have asked me to sharpen a knife for them. I said "If you buy a twenty dollar stone I will teach you how to sharpen". They didn't take me up on it.
One guy was in his early twenties and he asked me to sharpen a kind of SD fixed blade knife so I wanted him to work a little to get that / make an investment rather than just take it to his friends and wave it around and act like a big shot . . .

no one has taken me up on it. People . . . these days, in my opinion, are too A.D.D. to actually focus long enough to do what you are suggesting. At least around here.

It's a nice thought though . . . a real nice thing you are trying to do.
I sure wish I had had someone do that for me.
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that's why, if we ever want to pass on this knowledge... we'd be forced to use youtube or tiktok - sad but true

... the bonus used to be, you'd get paid pennies for every 10k views... these days since its something that could facilitate violence you'd be lucky just to have it not taken down, honestly getting a bit ridiculous


anyway, the best person to person setup would be contacting a local blacksmith, or find the 'hammer-ins' and join up
there you'd find many like minded people
 
kreisler said:
i tried to demo knife sharpening at a friend's place. i brought stone and strop and let him choose kitchen knives. he owned tons and chose the two worst specimen! microchipped along the entire bevel, and bent blade (righty's abuse), cheap knife, cheap metal. Even budgeteer me admitting now that it wouldn't be worth my efforts, sweat, time!

anyway, i tried to do a fast demo .. and failed. hated to give up. if you show something to others, you run out of patience too! you get nervous because everyone's patience is running out including your own.

my advice: do the demo and teaching with great quality knives only in very good condition, knives which just stopped slicing copy paper nicely. they must be free of chips and microchips. the blade stock must(!) be straight. and the blade must be stiff, non-flexible. and void of recurves. you can't teach sharpening on a 5$ WALMART knife, such a knife will ruin your lesson, impossible to get encouraging results for a beginner. cheap blade steels are soft, ductile, and too challenging to deburr cleanly by a beginner.
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for a cheap knife/cheap softer steel, the only right answer (imho) is a strop... they don't deserve proper stones or the time & effort req'd to re-bevel
 
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I'm not a great sharpener, but I'm a whole lot better than I was even a few months ago. A couple of weekends ago, my SIL and her sons, our 16-y.o. nephews, came into town. The boys are into all things fiction-fantasy. D&D, Hobbitses, swords, etc., between those two factors (my renewed interest in sharpening, and their interest in fiction-fantasy), I figured I'd offer to teach them how to sharpen a knife. They'd never been taught, and they were excited at the prospect. My SIL didn't even know how to sharpen a knife, but she's hoping they'll put edges back on their dull kitchen knives at home. A couple of hours with bench stones and $2 paring knives, and they were both getting burrs. It also bought Mrs. McGee and her sister (my SIL) a couple of hours to visit without the boys interrupting them. A good time was had by all.

Mrs. McGee is also seeing some benefits from my sharpening. We've had a couple of pretty successful garage sales, and picked up some decent kitchen cutlery at very good prices. Some pieces (obviously) have been better cared for than others, but I've been able to rehabilitate a couple of nice knives. The other benefit of my sharpening . . . . Mrs. McGee works for a library, and she's been looking for programs that will bring more men into the library. When I started talking about Arkansas stones, she perked right up. She thinks a knife sharpening workshop might be just the ticket. I've got a few months left to practice and write my program. I'll focus on the sharpening, but likely venture out into a little history and geology while I'm at it. I figure that I don't have to be perfect, just good enough to teach the basics. Wish me luck!
 
jackknife said:
I'm willing to teach all I know about sharpening a knife free hand with just a pocket stone. I'll sit down one on one for as many hours as it takes to teach you how to get a very sharp knife very easy and very quick.
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Good for you! Very noble gesture. I hope many take you up on it. Seems like it comes natural for some but very difficult for others (including me) to get the hang of it. I'd galdly take up such an offer in my area.
 
Every knife deserves a proper bevel .. So it can be the best it can be ! ( I guess that takes effort )
Guided knife sharpener ...
Prices and flavors a plenty .
Just a mediocre amount of skill / effort required for a sharp knife . ( Im sure most people can spare a mediocre amount of skill N effort to sharpen a knife - it's about the same amount of effort that is needed to destroy a knife )
 
Spats McGee said:
When I started talking about Arkansas stones, she perked right up. She thinks a knife sharpening workshop might be just the ticket. I've got a few months left to practice and write my program. I'll focus on the sharpening, but likely venture out into a little history and geology while I'm at it. I figure that I don't have to be perfect, just good enough to teach the basics. Wish me luck!
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Well, that sounds amazing. For me manmade stones don't have the same charm natural stones have. Arkansas stones sound like "the good old times". I had a nice set of Arkansas stones. I would say, that I learned to sharpen not until I used these. They weren't my first stones, but the first quality stones. As it takes time to sharpen on an Arkansas stone you learn patience. And to feel what you are doing. Because if you do it wrong (and ruin your edge), you know you need a lot of time for erpairing. I always loved the edge they produce. Very fine. And how it feels to sharpen on such stones. Oh man, I miss my Arkansas stones!
 
Papilio said:
Well, that sounds amazing. For me manmade stones don't have the same charm natural stones have. Arkansas stones sound like "the good old times". I had a nice set of Arkansas stones. I would say, that I learned to sharpen not until I used these. They weren't my first stones, but the first quality stones. As it takes time to sharpen on an Arkansas stone you learn patience. And to feel what you are doing. Because if you do it wrong (and ruin your edge), you know you need a lot of time for erpairing. I always loved the edge they produce. Very fine. And how it feels to sharpen on such stones. Oh man, I miss my Arkansas stones!
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I'm really looking forward to teaching that program. I've got enough Arkansas stones that we can pass them around for everyone to take a look, plus we're looking at grabbing some Arkansas pocket stones so that participants can take a stone home with them.

I like my Arkansas stones, and completely agree on patience. I can re-profile an edge in no time on my diamond plates, but once I switch to the Arkansas stones (or even my water stone), it's a lot slower going. I don't think that's a bad thing, either. And speaking of diamond plates, we actually also have diamonds here in AR, so I'll likely include that as part of my program.

I broke out a recently-acquired soft/hard combination Arkansas stone over the weekend, and got my little Lakota NRA folder good and sharp in short order. I also learned why one should not label a stone with Sharpie until one has actually used it. I wrote C for Coarse on the side, but once I used it, I realized it felt more like a medium stone . . . 🤦‍♂️ I guess I should be glad that I've progressed far enough to tell a coarse stone from a medium stone.
 
Spats McGee said:
I'm really looking forward to teaching that program.
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Wish you luck. I would come around if I would live nearby.

Spats McGee said:
I've got enough Arkansas stones that we can pass them around for everyone to take a look, plus we're looking at grabbing some Arkansas pocket stones so that participants can take a stone home with them.
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I am a little bit jealous now. Well, more than just a bit... :D


Spats McGee said:
I broke out a recently-acquired soft/hard combination Arkansas stone over the weekend, and got my little Lakota NRA folder good and sharp in short order. I also learned why one should not label a stone with Sharpie until one has actually used it. I wrote C for Coarse on the side, but once I used it, I realized it felt more like a medium stone . . . 🤦‍♂️ I guess I should be glad that I've progressed far enough to tell a coarse stone from a medium stone.
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Making progress is a wonderful experience. At the beginning all this knife stuff was quite confusing. And then came the day where I was able to get a knife sufficiently sharp.
And I am quite sure that the day will come when you are able to tell a medium stone from a fine. ;) Just kidding.
 
Spats McGee said:
....Mrs. McGee works for a library, and she's been looking for programs that will bring more men into the library. When I started talking about Arkansas stones, she perked right up. She thinks a knife sharpening workshop might be just the ticket. I've got a few months left to practice and write my program. I'll focus on the sharpening, but likely venture out into a little history and geology while I'm at it. I figure that I don't have to be perfect, just good enough to teach the basics. Wish me luck!
Click to expand...

67RS/SSx2 said:
Good for you! Very noble gesture. I hope many take you up on it. Seems like it comes natural for some but very difficult for others (including me) to get the hang of it. I'd galdly take up such an offer in my area.
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Papilio said:
Wish you luck. I would come around if I would live nearby....
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I just knew I'd posted about the sharpening workshop somewhere, but it took me a while to find it. About a month ago, I taught about an hour long class on "Sharpening 101" at our local library. Registration was required, because we knew we were going to need stones and knives for everyone to work on. We had a dozen people sign up, which is pretty good attendance for a library program. We bought a little over a dozen cheap water stones from the big river site and I was a little disappointed in them. We soaked them as directed, but they were still awfully "thirsty" stones. I also bought a bunch of cheap paring knives from The Land of Rollback Prices, so that everyone could work on the same knives. I also prepared a flyer for each person to take home that had diagrams of different edge angles, listings of some good online video sources, reputable places to buy stones and systems, etc.

All 12 people showed up, 7 men and 5 women, I think. Mrs. McGee wanted to do this program to try to get more men to use the library, so I'll call it a success. A couple of the library employees also came to the program, too, so we were glad we bought a couple of extra stones. I also passed around a couple of Arkansas stones, diamond plates, my own water stone, and about a half dozen of my knives. I encouraged them to try different knives on different stones so that they discover for themselves how different things can feel, even though it's all roughly the same activity. One lady even brought her own knives, ones she uses for dressing the deer that her husband kills. Those knives were well-loved and had obviously been sharpened many times. The blade on one had 'wallowed out' from use and sharpening, so she and I discussed what she would need to do to get rid of that convex curve.

I am please to report that every last participant was able to get a burr raised, and they left with a stone of their own, as well as a cheap paring knife! Perhaps even better, we had a couple of stones left over, so the library has a knife sharpening set that patrons can check out from its "Library of Things."
 
I remember volunteering to teach how to use networked computers we put in the public libraries, 3 years before the web. But gish, now you can print 3D, "checkout" audio and e-books, and in some branches sharpening sets!:thumbsup:
 
I'm happy there was great turnout.
It shows that there is a larger number of people who have at least some interest in learning to sharpen, considering how few people would have seen the library notice.
 
That's very cool that you taught the library class and really impressive that everyone was able to raise a burr! Thank you for your service work, if I were in your area I would have loved to attend.
 
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